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Scottish Sun
16 hours ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Labour rebels who forced Keir Starmer into a U-turn set to demand axe to two-child benefit cap
The reforms are expected to pass next Tuesday 'dog's dinner' Labour rebels who forced Keir Starmer into a U-turn set to demand axe to two-child benefit cap Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LABOUR rebels who forced Sir Keir Starmer into a U-turn are to demand the two-child benefit cap is axed. The PM faces the fresh test after watering down a £5billion savings package amid backbench unrest. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 1 126 Labour MPs threatened to scupper the moves Credit: PA People down south currently receiving Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit will continue to get them, with the cuts only hitting new claimants. The Labour Government made the concession after 126 Labour MPs threatened to scupper the moves. The reforms are expected to pass next Tuesday but experts warned tax rises may be needed to afford them. And it emerged Labour rebels now have the two-child cap in their sights. It follows an earlier climbdown on winter fuel payments. The PIP changes don't affect Scots as it has been replaced here by the Adult Disability Payment. But Nats ministers could be boosted by extra cash freed up by the U-turn — as the SNP pushes ahead with £150million plans to scrap the two-child cap in Scotland. Nats MP Kirsty Blackman accused Labour of creating 'a dog's dinner of a system' down south that punishes the young and newly disabled. She said: 'If these cuts go ahead, they'll embed discrimination, creating an unfair two-tier system. The SNP Scottish Government is clear it won't follow these discriminatory, two-tier disability cuts.' Labour peer Lord Hutton accused Sir Keir of putting 'party before country' by caving in to rebels'. Keir Starmer 'to BACK DOWN' on benefits cuts as he faces major revolt from MPs But Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall downplayed Labour splits, insisting: 'We have listened to people.' No10 claimed there would be no 'permanent' increase in borrowing as a result of the U-turn but declined to rule out tax rises to fund it.
Scottish Sun
5 days ago
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
SNP's blame game and ‘grievance' politics is out of control – voters are fed up
Anyone following public debate will have been aware of this dreary, dismal sound for the past decade or so CHRIS MUSSON SNP's blame game and 'grievance' politics is out of control – voters are fed up A DARK cloud has lingered over Scotland for years now – pumped out and replenished daily by the doom-mongering SNP. With less than 11 months until the 2026 Holyrood elections, the daily drumbeat of despair from the machinery commanded by Nats chiefs is starting to grow ever louder. 2 Chris Musson has his say on the SNP's blame game rhetoric under John Swinney Credit: Andrew Barr 2 The First Minister recently said Scotland is 'prey to a broken system and a failing economic model' Credit: Alamy Anyone following public debate will have been aware of this dreary, dismal sound for the past decade or so. More often than not, it emanates from the industrial-scale, taxpayer-funded grievance machine which the Scottish Government has morphed into under recent incarnations of the SNP. The person currently at the control panel, twiddling the dials of misery and blame, is Captain Glass Half Empty himself, First Minister John Swinney. Those who don't tune into Scottish politics may be blissfully unaware of the gloom and grumbles. I envy them. They may even think that Scotland is a pretty good place to live in the grand scheme of things. Which it is. Despite being tuned in daily, as a journalist, I sometimes forget about the monotonous moaning, given it's become like background noise. But every now and then, the beat grows louder, the shrieking more hysterical, making you sit up and pay attention. Recently, that's happened again, with Swinney's return to focusing on independence ahead of next year's election. The 'grievance' dial has been turned up to ten, culminating in Swinney's deranged, paranoid drivel in a self-billed 'keynote' speech last week. Fresh from an event where he claimed the 'status quo is broken' - ignoring the fact he has been the status quo since 2007 - Swinney dusted off the decades-old nationalist playbook. John Swinney defends Gray's car use after minister was 'driven to pub' He told an Edinburgh audience that Scotland has been left to 'thrive on what amounts at worst to poison pills and at best policy scraps from the UK table'. We are an 'afterthought' for Westminster, he complained - ignoring the fact that devolution means that we are, by and large, left to our own affairs with key services. As the SNP says it wants. And with a bizarre, anti-capitalist flourish, Swinney claimed Scotland was 'prey to a broken system and a failing economic model'. Has he got one eye on another coalition with the Scottish Greens next year? Or maybe Swinney has been coming out with this nonsense for so long he actually believes it. Find out what's really going on Register now for our free weekly politics newsletter for an insightful and irreverent look at the (sometimes excruciating) world of Scottish Politics. Every Thursday our hotshot politics team goes behind the headlines to bring you a rundown of key events - plus insights and gossip from the corridors of power, including a 'Plonker' and 'Star' of the Week. Sign up now and make sure you don't miss a beat. The politicians would hate that. SIGN UP FOR FREE NOW After all, this is the man who, in 2001, appears to have invented the SNP's claim that rivals think Scotland is 'too wee, too poor, too stupid' to be independent - a charge levelled only by the SNP. What Swinney actually said all those years ago, during his first, disastrous stint as SNP leader, was that Labour and Tories were 'terrified of the idea that the lives of millions of Scots would be improved if control of Scottish resources were in Scottish hands'. He then said: 'And that is why they will always say we are too stupid and too poor to be trusted to run the affairs of our own country.' Swinney's frankly bonkers suggestion - in 2001, and now - that leaders in England desire and indeed plot for Scotland to be impoverished and miserable is the kind of zoomery you might get from a basement-dwelling conspiracy theorist. This sort of nonsense has a ceiling in terms of public support. We're seeing that now, borne out by polls showing the SNP nowhere near a majority next year. Listening to Swinney last week, I found myself asking a question which the SNP of 2025 should also ask itself: Is this really what we want to be as a country? Because, by God, this party of devolved government has lost its way. A movement which had flirted with sunshine in those latter years under Alex Salmond, has turned into a thunder cloud that's hung over the country ever since. Optimism is snuffed out as they look inwards. Their primary aim is no longer to better Scotland's lot. That is the only way to independence, and if the SNP were to get there by those means, then they would deserve it. But their underlying and self-destructive mission since Nicola Sturgeon took the helm, and continuing since she left, seems to be to persuade people that Scotland is terrible because it's part of the UK. Of course, everything is far from ideal. Not only for the UK, but for Europe and for much of the world. The economic headwinds which have battered the world, from the pandemic to wars, have taken their toll and continue to. But let's get some perspective. We are a successful, advanced nation. We have leaders who are generally trying to do their best. We're not oppressed or subjugated. At the last count, for 2023/24, a staggering £22.7billion more was spent on public services in Scotland than was raised here in taxes. That's £2,417 per head MORE than the UK average - meaning all those universal freebies, that extra cash spent on benefits, the higher public sector pay despite lower cost-of-living than elsewhere in the UK. Is that the 'poison' Swinney refers to? In the past decade it's seemed at times that nothing - not even cold, hard figures - can stop the SNP-run grievance machine. But as we've seen in the past year or so, the mood music of the nation is shifting. More and more people are looking at the downbeat drudgery of a party who claim to speak for Scotland, and are thinking they no longer speak for them. If the SNP don't change their tunes, then come next May, voters may finally show them the door.
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- Japan Today
Ohtani pitches 1 sharp inning, then drives in 5 runs in Dodgers' 13-7 win over Nationals
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani follows through on a throw to a Washington Nationals batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh) By GREG BEACHAM Shohei Ohtani pitched one hitless inning in his second mound start of the season before hitting a three-run triple and a two-run homer, and Max Muncy had a grand slam and a three-run homer in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 13-7 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Ohtani recorded two strikeouts while throwing 18 pitches, allowing his only baserunner on an error when Mookie Betts dropped a popup in the sun. The two-way superstar is easing his way back onto the mound with short starts, and he was more effective against the Nats than in his season mound debut last Monday against San Diego. Ohtani then had his most productive offensive game in some time, delivering two huge hits in the late innings. He cleared the bases with a drive into the right field corner during the Dodgers' seven-run seventh, and he added his 26th homer in the eighth to put LA up 13-3. The defending World Series champions finished their 10-game homestand at 7-3, taking two of three from Washington. The Dodgers trailed 3-0 in the sixth when Muncy delivered his seventh career grand slam — also his 200th homer. Muncy then hit a three-run shot off Cole Henry in the seventh for his 18th multi-homer game. Nathaniel Lowe hit a three-run homer and Michael Soroka struck out a career-high 10 while pitching two-hit ball into the sixth inning for the Nats, who have lost six straight series while going 4-16 in June. Ben Casparius (6-1) allowed three runs and five hits over five innings after coming on behind Ohtani. Soroka retired 14 of the Dodgers' first 15 batters, issuing just one walk until Hyeseong Kim roped a long double to left with two outs in the fifth. The Dodgers finally responded in the sixth, chasing Soroka right before Muncy's slam off José A. Ferrer (2-3). Ferrer stopped the game with a 2-1 count on Muncy to complain about the mound conditions, compelling the grounds crew to come onto the field for significant work. Muncy blasted Ferrer's second pitch after the delay deep into the left field bleachers. Muncy tied his career high with seven RBIs. The slugger has done it three times, most recently May 31 against the Yankees. Washington's Mitchell Parker (4-8, 4.59 ERA) takes the mound Monday in San Diego. The Dodgers have a day off before a probable bullpen game at Colorado on Tuesday. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Shohei Ohtani pitches 1 sharp inning, then drives in 5 runs in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 13-7 win
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani pitched one hitless inning in his second mound start of the season before hitting a three-run triple and a two-run homer, and Max Muncy had a grand slam and a three-run homer in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 13-7 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Ohtani recorded two strikeouts while throwing 18 pitches, allowing his only baserunner on an error when Mookie Betts dropped a popup in the sun. The two-way superstar is easing his way back onto the mound with short starts, and he was more effective against the Nats than in his season mound debut last Monday against San Diego. Ohtani then had his most productive offensive game in some time, delivering two huge hits in the late innings. He cleared the bases with a drive into the right field corner during the Dodgers' seven-run seventh, and he added his 26th homer in the eighth to put LA up 13-3. The defending World Series champions finished their 10-game homestand at 7-3, taking two of three from Washington. The Dodgers trailed 3-0 in the sixth when Muncy delivered his seventh career grand slam — also his 200th homer. Muncy then hit a three-run shot off Cole Henry in the seventh for his 18th multi-homer game. Nathaniel Lowe hit a three-run homer and Michael Soroka struck out a career-high 10 while pitching two-hit ball into the sixth inning for the Nats, who have lost six straight series while going 4-16 in June. Ben Casparius (6-1) allowed three runs and five hits over five innings after coming on behind Ohtani. Soroka retired 14 of the Dodgers' first 15 batters, issuing just one walk until Hyeseong Kim roped a long double to left with two outs in the fifth. The Dodgers finally responded in the sixth, chasing Soroka right before Muncy's slam off José A. Ferrer (2-3). Ferrer stopped the game with a 2-1 count on Muncy to complain about the mound conditions, compelling the grounds crew to come onto the field for significant work. Muncy blasted Ferrer's second pitch after the delay deep into the left field bleachers. Muncy tied his career high with seven RBIs. The slugger has done it three times, most recently May 31 against the Yankees. Washington's Mitchell Parker (4-8, 4.59 ERA) takes the mound Monday in San Diego. The Dodgers have a day off before a probable bullpen game at Colorado on Tuesday.
Fox Sports
6 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Busy day for Shohei Ohtani! Dodgers star pitches, homers in big win over Nats
Shohei Ohtani pitched one hitless inning in his second mound start of the season before hitting a three-run triple and a two-run homer, and Max Muncy had a grand slam and a three-run homer in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 13-7 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Ohtani recorded two strikeouts while throwing 18 pitches, allowing his only baserunner on an error when Mookie Betts dropped a popup in the sun. The two-way superstar is easing his way back onto the mound with short starts, and he was more effective against the Nats than in his season mound debut last Monday against San Diego. Ohtani then had his most productive offensive game in some time, delivering two huge hits in the late innings. He cleared the bases with a drive into the right field corner during the Dodgers' seven-run seventh, and he added his 26th homer in the eighth to put LA up 13-3. Shohei Ohtani crushed a two-run home run vs. the Washington Nationals. The defending World Series champions finished their 10-game homestand at 7-3, taking two of three from Washington. The Dodgers trailed 3-0 in the sixth when Muncy delivered his seventh career grand slam — also his 200th homer. Muncy then hit a three-run shot off Cole Henry in the seventh for his 18th multi-homer game. Nathaniel Lowe hit a three-run homer and Michael Soroka struck out a career-high 10 while pitching two-hit ball into the sixth inning for the Nats, who have lost six straight series while going 4-16 in June. Ben Casparius (6-1) allowed three runs and five hits over five innings after coming on behind Ohtani. Soroka retired 14 of the Dodgers' first 15 batters, issuing just one walk until Hyeseong Kim roped a long double to left with two outs in the fifth. The Dodgers finally responded in the sixth, chasing Soroka right before Muncy's slam off Jose A. Ferrer (2-3). Ferrer stopped the game with a 2-1 count on Muncy to complain about the mound conditions, compelling the grounds crew to come onto the field for significant work. Muncy blasted Ferrer's second pitch after the delay deep into the left field bleachers. Muncy tied his career high with seven RBIs. The slugger has done it three times, most recently May 31 against the Yankees. Reporting by The Associated Press. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
